The Field

“I hope that this anniversary will be the first and the last. This war is the most terrible moment of our lives.” Ivan is a 14-year-old boy from Ukraine. He had to flee to the western part of the country with his mother. One year after the beginning of the war, he shares how deeply the situation is affecting him. 

“We are suffering the consequences of climate change because you put off climate change as an issue 10 or 15 years ago.” Brian King is a 17-year-old climate activist. Based in Kenya, he works to ensure that children and young people are heard by decision-makers. What challenges does he face? What advice does he have for young people who want to get involved in climate activism? What is his message to decision-makers? 

Cecilia Popa has been working in criminal justice systems for over 12 years. She is convinced that restorative justice can be key for many children and teens. But what does “restorative” mean? And where can we find this type of justice? In this episode, she is interviewed by Angela, a 22-year-old child and youth advisor.  

On International Women’s Day, Farah Ishaqat tells us about the struggles of being a woman in Jordan, about the woman that inspires her most, and about how issues in her childhood made her become a lawyer today.

Khitam Abuhamad is our office manager in Gaza and has been with Tdh for 12 years. We interviewed her two days before the war broke out at the beginning of October. Discover the powerful testimony of this woman whose resilience and unwavering commitment have given a ray of hope to generations of children in Gaza. 

Leen Farhat is a psychologist working for Tdh in Lebanon. In August last year, she was getting ready for a wedding when the blast destroyed entire parts of the capital Beirut. Since then, the worsening economic situation makes it difficult to make the ends meet. But she is not the type to give up. Leen shared some bits of her life in an interview with her colleague Isabel Zbinden.

Ivana Goretta, porte-parole de l’organisation, raconte : « Je croise Julien à Lausanne dans sa chemise légère à fines rayures vert pâle. Cela fait 15 ans qu’il travaille dans l’humanitaire. Bien assez pour partager la complexité de son métier. La mèche rebelle, un anneau doré discret accroché à chaque oreille. La barbe est courte, bien taillée, et les yeux bleus pétillent. Ne vous fiez pas à sa douceur apparente. Vous serez surpris par l’indignation qui bouillonne en lui quand il évoque la situation des enfants exploités de Kathmandu. Comment on fait pour gérer famille et missions sur le terrain ? J’ai eu envie de lui poser la question. »

About seven million children are deprived of liberty throughout the world. Whether they live in detention centres or closed institutions, Covid-19 has aggravated their situation. Cut off from their families as visits have been banned, they have suffered from a lack of social interactions. Listen to some of our staff working with them in Jordan and Iraq, and what they have to say about their experiences. 

Xavier Colin brings us to the refugee camps in Nigeria to explore how the frontline workers are designing innovative tools to prevent children from contracting the virus. 

Frontline workers from Greece, Mali and Lebanon talk about the impact of Covid-19 on children they work with and protect.